Rotary adsorbent dryers are quite commonly used for drying ambient air for electronic, pharmaceutical and other industrial applications. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,926,502 and 2,993,563 (Munters et al) disclose applications of rotary adsorbent dryers for drying compressed air in oil/lubricant free rotary compressors. U.S. Pat. No. 7,166,149 (Dunne et al) discloses an application of a rotary adsorbent dryer for drying compressed gas discharged from turbo compressors. U.S. Pat. No. 8,349,054 and patent application no. 2011/0132191 (Fredenhagen et al) discloses a construction for a rotary adsorbent compressed gas dryer. Rotary adsorbent compressed gas dryers have generally not been able to be used for drying compressed gas, typically air, discharged from oil or lubricant injected rotary compressor systems because the operating temperature of such compressor systems has not been high enough to easily regenerate the adsorbent media in the rotary adsorbent dryer. Known and conventional rotary adsorbent dryers often require the input of additional energy and use refrigerant means in their operation to achieve acceptable compressed gas drying performance. While the present invention is particularly useful for drying compressed gas exiting lubricant (liquid) flooded or injected rotary gas compressors, it is not necessarily limited to this application. Further, known rotary adsorbent dryers typically comprise a rotating drum driven on a central axle or drive shaft, the drum containing desiccant type media capable of absorbing liquid (moisture) from a gas and giving up liquid (moisture) to a gas flowing through the media, the rotary adsorbent dryer having at least two gas flow paths through desiccant media, one being capable of giving up liquid (moisture) to the media and the other capable of removing liquid (moisture) from the media, the media in the drum being progressively presented to the respective gas flows upon rotation of the drum.
It is desirable to provide an improved system for drying compressed gas discharged from a gas compressor, preferably but not exclusively, an oil/lubricant flooded or injected rotary compressor configuration utilising a rotary adsorbent dryer, and an improved rotary adsorbent dryer for use therewith.